Register now to get rid of these ads!

Projects Assembling Brookville Roadster/ 40s style Build Thread

Discussion in 'Traditional Hot Rods' started by Nick Agius, Mar 4, 2018.

  1. Nick Agius
    Joined: Jul 29, 2015
    Posts: 157

    Nick Agius

    Thanks mate! Much appreciated


    Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
    loudbang and kidcampbell71 like this.
  2. Nick Agius
    Joined: Jul 29, 2015
    Posts: 157

    Nick Agius

    It’s all part of it I guess. I kinda knew the odds weren’t stacked that great in my favour but still stoked to be on this journey with the car. Good times!


    Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
    Stogy and loudbang like this.
  3. Nick Agius
    Joined: Jul 29, 2015
    Posts: 157

    Nick Agius

    Thanks Wardy, good times man! Your chassis is looking amazing. Hopefully catch up again one day soon


    Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
    Stogy and loudbang like this.
  4. continentaljohn
    Joined: Jul 24, 2002
    Posts: 5,506

    continentaljohn
    Member

    Thanks for taking us along on your trips, getting the gremlins out is apart of Hotrodding . The roadster looks awesome and great to see you keep her going..
     
    Stogy and loudbang like this.
  5. Outback
    Joined: Mar 4, 2005
    Posts: 2,381

    Outback
    Member
    from NE Vic

    lovely roadster mate!
     
    loudbang likes this.
  6. Nick Agius
    Joined: Jul 29, 2015
    Posts: 157

    Nick Agius

    Thank You, I enjoy writing all this.
    Itll be a nice feeling when its all said and done. Im lucky ive got good friends to help me along the way.

    Thanks mate!
     
    loudbang likes this.
  7. Nick Agius
    Joined: Jul 29, 2015
    Posts: 157

    Nick Agius

    Last week we dropped the 59a block off at the machine shop for bore, hone and what we thought was one sleeve. Thing took a turn south when the Guys phoned and let us know it was going to need 2 sleeves, Plus there were a few helicoils in where the head studs why I had purchased a 99a block from Good friend BiG TiDdAys not to long ago which had been nicely 'Seasoned', And was ceased pretty badly, Still there was a possibility it was going to be better than the 59a and had the added bonus of previously being ported, And factory relieved.

    A mid week conversation With John had us thinking that we should probably tear into it and see what we were working with. Which was fine by me because as nice as an 59a is the one i have inst the greatest, I feel like putting the effort into the 99 is just that little bit nicer. thumbnail_IMG_4956.jpg

    So monday morning seen some rain and i tore up to johns to get stuck into this motor with him, With only one real goal, get what was left of this motor torn apart. IMG_4954.jpg

    We tried a few different methods but in the end a near metre long punch and a sledge hammer was what free'd most of them off,You can see in the photo above the skirt broke off the pistons as they became free. IMG_4959.jpg End caps came off pretty nice, They cleaned up well and will be salvageable i think.. The pistons and rods on the other hand.... IMG_4963.jpg

    Most came free with a decent knock but there were a few that we couldnt gain access to because where the crank was stuck, Out came the Oxy.

    John with the honours, I dont think he trusted me with this job...Ha!
    IMG_4960 (1).jpg
    Crank came out alright, This may still be usable. it looked like someone had cleaned the crank journals once before though, as the flatheaded screws had been replaced with hex head ones.

    IMG_4962.jpg AL IMG_4964.jpg

    So the blocks been at the engine shop for a week now so hopefully ill hear something over the next few days. Fingers crossed this one is useable!
     
  8. Nick Agius
    Joined: Jul 29, 2015
    Posts: 157

    Nick Agius

    Well,
    Things are slowing down a bit over here .Still no word on the motor. And businesses are slowly being shut down by the coronavius, But i did however manage to get some timber roof bowes made up and John and I got a start on that this week.


    Probably a year or so ago my friend Titties was walking through a swap when he stumbled across this set of roof bowes, He was nice enough to buy them. And pass them on to me for my roadster. I beleive he thought they might have been for a studebaker?

    anyway they were a good enough base to start with, and they were old chrome..

    we started by clamping them up, and trying to see where they needed to sit.
    IMG_5201.jpg
    we ended up cutting about 4" straight off the bottom, Slowly & in increments but this is where we ended up

    IMG_5200.jpg
    we cut the timbers down bit by bit and got them to sit where we thought was a good height. I didnt take any photos but we'd had the blankets on and off a couple of times trying to work profiles out. I think were pretty close, maybe we need to come down a little more but next time ill grab a heap of masking tape and take that up, and then we will be able to get a definitive profile happening.

    John here holding the front bowe,
    IMG_5207.jpg
    We may still need to do some height adjustments as it certainly looks tall from this angle. But were making headway none the less.
    IMG_5208.jpg

    we did get a start at making some front mounts.
    IMG_5211.jpg
    Still need to weld a nut on to lock the bolts in place but we can do that next time. A little progress none the less
    IMG_5212.jpg
     
    Outback, hfh, dana barlow and 8 others like this.
  9. 31hotrodguy
    Joined: Oct 29, 2013
    Posts: 2,698

    31hotrodguy
    Member

    Just came across your thread! I’m going to enjoy starting from the beginning!


    Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
    Stogy and Nick Agius like this.
  10. Man, watching you tear into the flathead brought back some memories of me and Steve trashing on my first one, and also the next 12 to get the good core for the big banger I had built. Hope you guys are staying safe and out of harms way up there mate -Rhys

    Sent from my SM-G930F using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
    Outback and Stogy like this.
  11. Nick Agius
    Joined: Jul 29, 2015
    Posts: 157

    Nick Agius


    Its feeling like a similar route trying to find a decent block!

    Were good, everyones keeping a low profile. Hope all is well for you guys down south also.
     
    loudbang and Stogy like this.
  12. Nick Agius
    Joined: Jul 29, 2015
    Posts: 157

    Nick Agius

    Its been a minute,

    Coronavirus has dropped everyone's hours back at work here, Which has been good because its given me some time to do some renovations on a new house we'd just bought. Things spiraled outta control a little but were moving forward none the less.

    The roadster being at Johns place 1.5 hrs from mine basically meant that until things had begun settling down with COVID-19 the roadster was basically on the back burner.

    I had a burst of motivation recently helping a friend lower the front of his standard model a roadster and decided maybe i would try find a motor that was a runner use it till John and i were able to rebuild my 99a and be able to sell it on to him once i was done, So i put the feelers out on Facebook and received a message from an old timer stating he had a motor, So a few phone calls later id bought the motor from the other side of the country off one blurry photo and the fact that he said would run it in a homemade stand he made and would take it to local car shows and fire it up for people.

    IMG_0262.JPG

    A week or so later after organising freight it arrived at work and i was pretty stoked with what i saw..

    The motor is an 81T, Which i didn't know a lot about, But after some research i believe these came out in Ford & Mercury trucks, It has keystone water passages, raised intake deck, big truck sump plug & removable section to remove the flywheel without having to take off the sump. IMG_0287.JPG IMG_0286.JPG
    I took it home that night & begun stripping it down to paint the same colour as my previous motor, Which matches the dash that's still in the car

    IMG_0417.jpg

    I painted the motor in the back of my ute under limited light but it turned out good enough. I wasn't going overboard on trying to make this motor pretty as theoretically its only temporary.

    IMG_0423.jpg

    I hit it with the pressure washer and rattle canned it right there. It stayed in my ute for a week or so before i could get up to Johns place to work on it.

    John was sceptical on the motor seeing it first time.. IMG_0485.jpg
    We lifted it off the rear of my ute & begun removing the water pumps, The bolts inside the pumps themselves were well rusted & snapped the head off one trying to remove it. Some heat and a set of vice grips and we had it out. I also touched up all the spots id missed painting it in my ute IMG_0489.jpg I decided that it was probably a good idea to pull the sump off and inspect, Im glad i did. There was about 60 yrs of carbon And oil sludge build up in the bottom. I gave it a light scrub, got all the bits of grit out and called it quits. After all, i wasn't going overboard on this motor. You Cant see it in this photo but the motor has the removable sump section to get the clutch and flywheel out without removing the sump completely.
    IMG_0488.jpg

    It has a 10" clutch, IMG_0487.jpg I gave it a lite scuff and threw it back in, Everything looked really nice. IMG_0486.jpg

    IMG_0490.jpg

    I then made the grave discovery that to run my offset generator bracket i was going to need to remove one of the heads & 3 head studs, What a mission, The head was basically ceased onto the block. we pried on it for hours before we could get it off, I may or may not have had to smash it to get it off, Upon removal everything looked pretty standard, No lip on the bore or scoring, I was pretty happy. John was beginning to come around on the idea of this motor to, It might be a little ripper he says..

    John removed two of the head studs with precision, But the last one didn't budge and broke instantly. Out come the tools.

    IMG_0492.jpg
    Hours of drilling, Grinding, tapping and picking bits of bolt out of the original thread later we had it. The tick with removing snapped bolts is most certainly patience. I think if i ever did that again id have to leave it for a week before even looking at it, Otherwise it'd be screwed up before i knew it.
    Came up pretty damn good i reckon.
    IMG_0495.jpg
    We left the head off and decided best thing we could do to finish the day would be to drop the motor back into the car.
    IMG_0494.jpg
    I went home that night, And would head back first thing the next morning. I got up there for 6am start Tuesday morning and got straight into re installing all the bolt on parts i could whilst John was getting ready for the day. Intake manifold and carbs, Mechanical fuel pump, Header pipes, exhaust & starter back on. It was time to try find another head to replace the one id broke off thinking i was working in a junkyard ( Says John) IMG_0508.jpg Its funny cause i was a tiny bit bummed id ruined the head that came on the motor trying to remove it, Id nver heard anything about an 81t before, But the more i looked into it, The more i liked the idea of it..
    John goes to the stash and whips out a stack of heads, Some 21 stud, Or pilot. The best looking one kinda got pushed to the side the night before we had a proper look over it this time and it turned out to be the exact head we needed, Not that any of that really matters but its such a sweet little motor i felt bad about smashing the head up. So finding the exact same one made me feel a little better, I wire wheeled it, repainted and put it back on the car. IMG_0518.jpg
    The idea behind this swap was to use everything on the previous motor that we that either been through or knew had been good. and transfer it onto this motor, I drove the car to Johns when we tore the first 59a down so it shouldn't be an issue.

    About this time, Rowan the trimmer had shown up with my seat he had been working on.. We were in the midst of building the roof frame for the car before the current Pandemic so was a god chance to see how i was going to fit with the seat cut down.
    IMG_0523.jpg

    The bottom of the seat frame had to be dropped a little to get me in so thats the gap you can see. But we will sort that with a long cushion style of thing that sits between. Overall the seat is super comfortable and I'm stoked with the result.
    IMG_0520.jpg

    We fucked around for a few more hours getting oil pressure gauges and last minute stuff tied up before trying to fire the new motor for the first time.

    61095037335__EC26D1D4-1D4A-4C4F-987F-990095B54DC2.JPG

    We got it running, But spark issues would see the car cut out after running for a few minutes. Ive got something going on with my distributor or coil so that's on next weeks list of things to sort,

    All in all though, For two days work we got alot done and it was nice hanging out with John,The Car and updating this little blog once again.

    Thanks for reading.
     
  13. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 33,861

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    WOW, I don't how I missed this thread before but I just sat here and read all ten pages and what a story.
    Thanks for sharing the build and the adventures and misadventures.
     
    Outback and loudbang like this.
  14. Cliff Ramsdell
    Joined: Dec 27, 2004
    Posts: 1,343

    Cliff Ramsdell
    Member

    Good to see your heading back to driving the car. Looking good.

    Cliff Ramsdell
     
    loudbang likes this.
  15. Wardog
    Joined: Jan 12, 2010
    Posts: 2,437

    Wardog
    Member

    Good to hear Nick.
    Between you and the crazy bloke in Castlemaine the two of you are keeping me motivated on my coupe.
    The new house looks cool too.
     
    loudbang likes this.
  16. loudbang likes this.
  17. Nick Agius
    Joined: Jul 29, 2015
    Posts: 157

    Nick Agius

    Im glad you enjoyed it, Its a nice timeline
     
    loudbang likes this.
  18. Nick Agius
    Joined: Jul 29, 2015
    Posts: 157

    Nick Agius

    That ratrodder is crazy.....
    Im glad i can be of some help, Cant wait to see your coupe all said and done,

    Hope you and the Family are good Wardy
     
    loudbang likes this.
  19. Nick Agius
    Joined: Jul 29, 2015
    Posts: 157

    Nick Agius

    Its been the better part of 5 months since I've posted any updates here, And a lot has happened.
    I ended up getting the engine back in and car on the road, And it was good for probably 4 weeks.
    thumbnail_IMG_2581.jpg Till one morning i got a little exuberant leaving a friends shop and dumped the clutch a little harder than i should have... The results were unsurprisingly obvious thumbnail_IMG_0855.jpg
    thumbnail_IMG_0942.jpg
    To be fair there was nothing really wrong with the 37 transmission that was in it previous to me blowing 1st gear. Luckily Id bought a later 48 transmission from a friend a few months earlier and set it aside for the day when i was going to need it. It is an open drive transmission, So the main shaft needed to be replaced. I tore that box down and took it to see my friend John. Who knows these things like the back of his hand.

    thumbnail_IMG_0880.jpg

    At the same time I begun getting the old gearbox and engine tore back out. (I am getting pretty good at removal/re-fit ) Not before one last drive in the rain with no fenders, windscreen or 1st gear. thumbnail_IMG_0953.jpg thumbnail_IMG_0972.jpg

    Ive missed alot of photos throughout this process but you get the point..
    thumbnail_IMG_0973.jpg

    I also figured whilst it was all part, This would be a good time to have the flywheel machined and tidy a few things up on the motor. thumbnail_IMG_0991.jpg

    John and i put the transmission back together in a day and it was ready to go back in the car that afternoon. thumbnail_IMG_1071.jpg
    I got the motor back in and was just about ready to go, I was ust waiting on some bits back from chrome.
    thumbnail_IMG_1089.jpg
    The windscreen posts came up surprisingly good. I had chopped these myself and I'm by no means good at any sort of fabrication work. Some people actually call me the drill bit snapper.

    Fast forward a few months the car had been back on the road and things were going just fine. Covid had hit here but despite this a bunch of friends were still able to get to gether down at the lake for a few nights of partying & BBQ!

    Good times! thumbnail_IMG_2160.jpg
    Josh's bitchin 32 roadster ( The rock spider) & mine on the way out to the lake
    thumbnail_IMG_2167.jpg
    Getting setup next to Paulee's 32

    thumbnail_IMG_2179.jpg
    some good bbq!
    thumbnail_IMG_2188.jpg
    thumbnail_IMG_2192.jpg
    Fellas
    thumbnail_IMG_2199.jpg

    Good times had by all! thanks again for the Barons for having me along! It was fathers day so we made a quick stop on the way home to see John's fathers grave. Was a cool moment thumbnail_IMG_2207.jpg
    Back to reality and I scored some fenders locally one off a friend and one from a local parts dealer ( Thanks Bojangles) thumbnail_IMG_1523.jpg

    Got them home, cut them up and put them on the car, With the T spring and my frame having a small step I didn't really like the way the car sat.
    thumbnail_IMG_2582.jpg
    So I lifted the rear up a little by adding a few leaf's.
    I was much happier with how the car sat. thumbnail_25EDA010-E092-4F70-9B2C-83970885C003.jpg thumbnail_IMG_2901.jpg
    Few weeks back i had scored a few bits for a one day project that seems to be happening sooner than I need it be, I had another set of rims there, So I built a new set of wheels for the car. Wether the whitewalls will stay ultimately time will tell. This was also a good time to have the fenders prepped and painted!

    thumbnail_IMG_3022.jpg

    I also bought a 56' 265 Chevy locally and have been working on that, Originally this was to replace the somewhat tired flathead I have just recently installed.. I'm now not so sure I want to do the swap. Again, This could be used for the other project.

    thumbnail_IMG_2434.jpg


    I got it tore apart with the help from John. A few of the pistons were stuck but beside that it was pretty good. It was very tired, But this was the first time the motor had been apart so was still on the original bore.
    thumbnail_IMG_2858.jpg

    I scored some nice speed parts for it and put it under the bench where it will stay for now, And will continue rebuilding the 99a I have at the engine shop.
    thumbnail_IMG_3113.jpg

    550 x16 up front & 750 x16 in the rear. Still awaiting fenders back from paint. thumbnail_IMG_3074 (1).jpg
    I threw my flipper caps back on and really like the look of it, But something about it all kept throwing me, I had gone a bigger tyre in the front so that could be it. However i lowered the front a little more and was happier with it, I've also ordered a new set of 500-525 tyres, thumbnail_IMG_3067.jpg
    The smaller mercury caps make a difference.
    thumbnail_IMG_3344.jpg

    Fenders back from paint and on the car, In between all the predominately unnecessary chopping and changing on the car I've also been working on the house in the background. Built in 1950, Its slowly becoming a little piece of paradise for my Lady and I.

    Thanks for reading

    thumbnail_IMG_3351 (1).jpg
     
  20. Life is good, cheers. I like the flipper caps better too.
     
    Stogy, loudbang and kidcampbell71 like this.
  21. continentaljohn
    Joined: Jul 24, 2002
    Posts: 5,506

    continentaljohn
    Member

    Roadster looks awesome and thanks for sharing the build
     
    Stogy, loudbang and 48fordnut like this.
  22. hfh
    Joined: Oct 22, 2012
    Posts: 476

    hfh
    Member
    from Western MA

    Hi Nick, thank you so much for sharing your story and all the photos. I love the way you put your car together. I would like to know on your recessed plate if you folded and stretched the metal that was there or if you added a metal strip to make the recess. On my own car I am getting ready to repaint and am wondering if you used base coat-clear coat or something else. Thank you again, HFH.
     
    Stogy and loudbang like this.
  23. Nick Agius
    Joined: Jul 29, 2015
    Posts: 157

    Nick Agius


    Glad you enjoyed it!

    A friend of mine made a buck that he used when recessing the license plate on his 48 ford, When it came time to do mine, he lent me the buck. You can see the process further back in the thread

    I'm not 100% sure what the process on what the paint was. But I believe it was just a standard 2 pac, The car hasn't been wet sanded or buffed wither.
     
    Outback, Stogy, mgermca and 2 others like this.
  24. A Boner
    Joined: Dec 25, 2004
    Posts: 7,419

    A Boner
    Member

    Before I saw the pics, I thought nix the whitewalls.....but they actually look good too! An either or choice for sure.
     
    Stogy likes this.
  25. wandi harry
    Joined: Jul 19, 2008
    Posts: 321

    wandi harry
    Member

    this is a great read
    Bump
     
    Stogy and Outback like this.
  26. Stogy
    Joined: Feb 10, 2007
    Posts: 26,345

    Stogy
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Hows it running now Nick...It looks like a million bucks...I'm sure you're happy with the engine now in a good place...I love the Half Fenders...I have to snoop back a bit and catch up...like mine I may Cycle or Spare ring the fronts...but for now 1/2 highboy is winning the race...
     
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2022
    Outback and brady1929 like this.
  27. Nick Agius
    Joined: Jul 29, 2015
    Posts: 157

    Nick Agius

    It's been 4 years since I last posted on here, Wild.

    Tonight found me talking about a seat with a friend in his roadster, So I returned to the blog to try find a reference photo for him how I did mine, I kinda forgot how much work went into this car, So much has happened. But, if anyone is interested and still reads blogs, here's a little update.

    The car has been driven at least twice a week for the past four years. Ive changed it up a little again with a set of American racing Mags. I like this look on the car best.

    The old 81t I installed as a temporary motor is as tired as ever but keeps going, Ive also blown another 1st gear doing burnouts leaving the bowls club - Still haven't learnt. So for now it's just a 2 speed.

    Reading back through all of this made me realise how luck I was to have the people help me that did, I cant thank John Parker & Matt Teece enough.

    the 99a Engine is done and has been sitting on my workshop floor for the past two months, whilst a certain Porsche project takes up the room I need to switch the motor and trans out.

    This car has been driven up and down the east coast of Australia, had many good nights with lovely ladies and I think it's a bit of a testament to what these old cars are still capable of.

    Anyway, I'll try upload some photos of the car being used the past 4 years.

    Hope everyone is well, Take care.
     

    Attached Files:

  28. Good to see your rod being driven.
    Thanks for the photos.
     
  29. Old-Soul
    Joined: Jun 16, 2007
    Posts: 3,774

    Old-Soul
    Member

    Haha was scrolling through the update photos at work - good stuff.

    Love the wheels on it now. It looked great before but I have always had a love for cars you can tell were "built" in the 40's and updated a bit later when the builder had a little more money available to him. The Americans are a great addition.
     
  30. J.Ukrop
    Joined: Nov 10, 2008
    Posts: 2,789

    J.Ukrop
    SUPER MODERATOR
    Staff Member

    Great update, Nick. Maybe I've said it before, but your car—and this thread—helped inspire me to build my car. Yours was one of the first threads where not everything went right all the time, and that made the finished car all the better. Glad to see you've been enjoying it. I still want to write the story on it one day.
     
    Outback and 48fordnut like this.

Share This Page

Register now to get rid of these ads!

Archive

Copyright © 1995-2021 The Jalopy Journal: Steal our stuff, we'll kick your teeth in. Terms of Service. Privacy Policy.

Atomic Industry
Forum software by XenForo™ ©2010-2014 XenForo Ltd.